Protest Leader Arrested After Alleged Threats

A former mayoral candidate and primary protest leader was arrested on charges of making threats against a police officer Friday at the site of the protest next to Memorial Stadium, protest organizers said.

UCPD arrested Zachary RunningWolf one week after he is said to have made some sort of threat against an officer, and he is now being held at Berkeley Jail Facility on $40,000 bail, said Karen Pickett, a protest supporter.

RunningWolf is scheduled to be arraigned in Oakland at 2 p.m. today.

Pickett, who said she visited RunningWolf in jail Saturday, said she highly doubts that he made any threat against the officers, but said she was not at the oak grove at the time of the incident.

“I don’t really believe that he issued something that constituted a real threat to the police,” Pickett said.

UCPD could not be reached for comment over the weekend.

Pickett said police officers regularly videotape their interactions with the protesters while at the site.

Protesters have been lodging in the oak grove since Dec. 2 in protest of UC plans to build a student athletic center at the site. They object to the removal of 26 coast live oaks and say the proposed project’s proximity to the Hayward fault makes it unsafe.

Pickett said the protest has been peaceful and any problems have been caused by heightened police harassment.

“We’re trying to save trees, save what’s part of Berkeley’s heritage,” she said. “We’re not trying to fight with the cops.”

UC police officials have said the protest constitutes a public safety hazard and is a drain on police resources.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued an injunction to UC Berkeley in late January preventing the campus from altering the site.

UCPD has twice cleared away a camp at the base of the oaks, which protest supporters say is in place for the safety of the tree-sitters.

Police have also issued several stay-away orders to some of the protesters, including RunningWolf, and have arrested two others.

Pickett said the $40,000 bail is unreasonable and protesters plan to deliver letters supporting RunningWolf to the judge overseeing the arraignment this afternoon.

Tags: